Good Morning. Welcome to The Wire’s daily news roundup. Each day, our staff gathers the top China business, finance, and economics headlines from a selection of the world’s leading news organizations.
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The Wall Street Journal
- China’s Tariff-Dodging Move to Mexico Looks Doomed — Chinese firms invested billions of dollars in Mexican factories to make products for the American market, shipping goods tariff-free under a U.S. trade agreement now in peril.
- Brazil Looks Like a Winner in the Global Trade War — Exporters are banking on higher Chinese demand as the Latin American country looks for new trade opportunities.
- Trump to Review Preliminary TikTok Deal As Deadline Approaches — Senior administration officials are expected to attend a Wednesday meeting about a potential deal; plan would require Beijing’s blessing.
The Financial Times
- Chinese megabanks’ interest margins fall to record low as economy slows — Increase in savers and government push to boost credit put pressure on lenders.
- Andreessen Horowitz in talks to help buy out TikTok’s Chinese owners — Venture capital group could join last-gasp bid by allies of Donald Trump to take control of video app owned by ByteDance.
- Apple and Google app stores host VPNs linked to sanctions-hit Chinese group — New findings reveal free ‘private browsing’ apps popular with US users have ties to blacklisted Qihoo 360.
- Opinion: China senses an opportunity in Trump’s cultural revolution — Policymakers in Beijing believe they will benefit from the destruction of America’s global credibility. By Martin Wolf.
The New York Times
- Bangkok Building Collapse Leads to Scrutiny of Chinese Company — Workers said poor-quality materials were used during construction by a Chinese developer as it sought to cut costs. Investigators also said they found substandard steel bars in the rubble.
- China’s New Barges Reveal How it Might Try to Seize Taiwan — The barges, which link up to form a bridge, could give China a way to land large numbers of vehicles and troops on Taiwan, solving a major logistical problem.
- Chinese Auto Giants Dongfeng and Changan Are in Talks to Merge — The state-owned automakers, longtime joint venture partners of Ford and Nissan, might combine operations as Beijing consolidates its sprawling car sector.
- Xiaomi Driverless Technology in Focus After Fatal Electric Car Crash — A popular electric vehicle made by the Chinese consumer electronics giant Xiaomi crashed into a concrete guardrail while deploying its autonomous driving feature. Three people died.
- Opinion: I Just Saw the Future. It Was Not in America. — Beijing’s message to America: We’re not afraid of you. You aren’t who you think you are — and we aren’t who you think we are. By Thomas L. Friedman.
Caixin
- From ‘French Farms to Chinese Tables’: France’s Economy Minister Touts Trade Potential — France is now China’s largest agricultural product import market and second-largest agricultural product trading partner in the EU.
- Diverging Profits Show How Size Matters for China’s Mutual Fund Firms — Leading fund managers saw net profit jump as much as 17% last year, while their smaller rivals reported declines of up to 42%.
- Chinese Developer Vanke Posts First-Ever Annual Loss as Liquidity Problems Pile Up — Company executives admit mistakes as property giant hit by dramatic reversal.
South China Morning Post
- Australia-China trade ties ‘imperative’ as both sides eye emerging prospects, risks — As geopolitical uncertainty and US tariffs reset global trade relations, both sides ‘have to work together’, Australian business council says.
- Why China needs ‘as many friends as possible’ to prevail in US rivalry — Chinese international relations expert urges Beijing to partner with other countries as Donald Trump’s policy moves upend global order.
- What is the ‘Mar-a-Lago Accord’, and will it really crash China’s economy? — The US’ mooted idea to devalue the dollar has been compared to the Plaza Accord of the 1980s, which some believe caused Japan’s ‘lost decades’.
- Alibaba woos back DingTalk founder to lead office app’s AI push — Chen Hang, who created the app in 2015, will return as DingTalk CEO as Alibaba plans to take a stake in the entrepreneur’s start-up.
- Opinion: China can take a leaf from post-war America on work-relief programmes — China’s migrant worker population hovers around 300 million but work-relief job creation covers just 1 per cent of that. By David Tingxuan Zhang.
Nikkei Asia
- Can China repeat its EV success in humanoid robots? — Beijing prioritizes the booming sector as a major growth engine.
- Great Wall Motor diversifies market options as Trump’s tariffs arrive — Chinese automaker puts more focus on ASEAN and Latin America.
- Myanmar military fires on Chinese Red Cross quake-relief convoy — Regime claims troops had not been informed of its route.
Bloomberg
- China Restricts Companies From Investing in US as Tensions Rise — China has taken steps to restrict local companies from investing in the US, according to people familiar with the matter, in a move that could give Beijing more leverage for potential trade negotiations with the Trump administration.
- China Tells Kids to Study Manufacturing to Fill Factory Jobs — College grads are unemployed even as millions of blue-collar positions remain unfilled.
- Walmart Keeps Price Pressure on Suppliers After China Pushback — The world’s largest retailer is essentially asking suppliers to shoulder Trump’s duties.
- How China Took Over Shipbuilding, and What the US Can Do About It — The US government says China became the dominant force in shipbuilding by unfair means and wants American shipyards to start catching up. What’s the plan, and can it work?
- China Curtails More Renewables as Record Additions Stress Grid — More wind and solar power is going to waste in China as record additions of turbines and panels in recent years continue to strain the grid.
Reuters
- China concludes two-day war games around Taiwan after live fire drills — The military’s Eastern Theatre Command said late on Wednesday it had completed the drills, which tested the troops’ “integrated joint operations capabilities.”
- US Senate committee opens review into Meta efforts to gain Chinese market access — The senators want Meta to disclose extensive records including all company communications or records of meetings with Chinese government officials since 2014. They want Meta to do this by April 21.
- Vietnam to host China, EU leaders in coming weeks amid US tariff risks, sources say — Vietnamese sources said that among issues to be discussed are railways linking northern Vietnam with China which the two countries have agreed to develop to boost connections and trade.
Other Publications
- Foreign Affairs: The Pentagon’s Endangered Brain Trust — Don’t Gut the Office That Outfoxed the Soviets and Predicted China’s Rise.
- POLITICO: Trump’s ‘Liberation Day’ is also a test on China — Wednesday’s tariff announcement will be telling for how the president addresses the world’s second-largest economy.
- The Economist: China debates whether Trump is a revolutionary, or just rude — Its experts cannot decide whether the second Trump presidency is a threat or opportunity.
